Studies and Reports

As the world leader in Quality of Life services, we are committed to deepening our understanding of how Quality of Life is perceived. Whether at universities, in hospitals, on offshore sites, or in small, medium or big companies, our studies allow us to better assess our consumers and clients needs. Furthermore, they help us provide integrated and complete offers of innovative services that contribute to reinforce the well-being of individuals, improve their effectiveness and help companies and organizations enhance their performance.

Social interaction and loneliness in healthcare and older adults’ care settings is the focus of much contemporary research and public policy. Social interaction and loneliness impact the quality of life of patients, older adults, families, carers and workers.

Download our Global Culinary Annual Report 2019 to learn more about the great work done by our chefs. You will discover the stories of some of our chefs, from France to Australia, and find out how new trends are shaping the way our business builds its “LOVE OF FOOD.”

As individuals, we seek to be innovative, creative, agile and flexible and yet, as workers, we are called on to promote standardisation, processes, efficiency and predictability; how can we resolve this apparent paradox?

In 2014, the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life published a report inspired by a round-table ‘Dialogue’ with experts with off-shore oil & gas, military and university perspectives to understand better what individuals can do to maintain their psychological wellbeing while being away from home and family.

The demographics, needs, expectations and behaviors of university students are changing, and along with them the campus environment. We worked with the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life and a global panel of higher-education experts to identify and understand five key trends shaping the future of the student experience, and how universities are evolving in response.

Worldwide, around 47 million people live with dementia, with nearly 60% living in low- and middle-income countries. The total number of people living with dementia is projected to near 75 million in 2030 and almost triple by 2050 to 132 million. From the perspectives of people living with dementia, their relatives and carers: what do Quality of Life and the progress of individuals mean?

Download our Global Culinary Annual Report 2018 to learn more about the great work done by our chefs in 2017. You will discover the stories of some of our executive chefs, from Spain to India, and find out how new trends are shaping the way our segments build their “LOVE OF FOOD.”

In the 2018 iteration of the Global Workplace Trends, our 7th edition, we looked at seven trends driving organizational change. While these trends cover a broad range of topics, they are deeply interconnected and possess a clear unifying theme: the need for collective intelligence across all workplace domains.

In November 2017, the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life convened experts from Mexico, Brazil and Chile to a Dialogue held near Santiago de Chile to understand better the social and economic costs of obesity in Latin America.

In the next decade, we expect to see significant workforce developments with continued progress in the fields of data, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, machine learning and intelligent robotics. New types of jobs will be created, some will be lost, many will change. From the perspective of workers’ quality of life, what is the key to the successful integration of intelligent robotics in the workplace?

At Sodexo we employ over 425,000 people and value the diversity of our identities in relation to age, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and many other aspects of identity that make each one of us unique. We also serve millions of people at different moments of their daily life and at different times in their life. Today, our identities seem to be more varied and complex than ever before and we need to navigate them on a daily basis.

Safety is a critical concern for any organisation; this is especially true for Sodexo as an employer of more than 425,000 people working in a wide variety of different environments which present their own risks and hazards. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to assessing safety across an organisation. With this in mind, the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life conducted a review of the academic and applied literature to determine the state of the art in relation to how safety culture is assessed across organisations.

As human beings we are instinctively drawn to patterns of all sorts, for example in our environments, behaviours and cultures. We derive comfort from ‘rules of thumb’, short cuts that can help us make sense of the variety and diversity of the circumstances we find ourselves in. On one level, this deeply ingrained habit helps us to make decisions quicker and more easily. However, in intercultural contexts and when dealing with a concept such as ‘quality of life’, there is a risk that our temptation to go fast leads us to overlook fundamental drivers of the way we think, behave, and therefore interpret others and the world around us.

There are more obese than underweight people in every region of the world except for parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In Latin America, overweight and obesity have risen significantly in the last few decades due to increasing urbanisation; less manual work; access to processed food; less physically active lifestyles and more screen-based activity.

On October 16-17, 2017, Sodexo was proud to host the second Quality of Life Conference, bringing together over 500 international – from private and public organizations, universities, think tanks, public authorities, civil society, NGOs and the media from more than 30 countries who are actively involved in shaping the future of our society.

Sodexo has conducted a UK University Lifestyle Survey biennially since April 2004, identifying and tracking trends in key non-academic areas of university life as experienced by undergraduate students. For the first time in its 14 year history, in response to a more global higher education sector, we have conducted the survey on a worldwide basis, polling over 4,000 students in six countries around the world (China, India, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA).

Our new report shows that connectivity, innovations and uncertainty are rewriting the rules of the workplace; next-generation working styles are being defined by individuality, inclusiveness and techno-literacy; and we can expect to see more robots as colleagues.

To better understand the link between Quality of Life and the performance of SMEs, more than 4,800 small business leaders have been interviewed in 7 countries. The survey results unveil a range of business outcomes SMEs benefit from as a direct result of investing in Quality of Life.

This first international study, conducted by the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life, collects feedback and insights from 780 decision makers from three different segments (Corporate, Healthcare and Universities).

The Sodexo 2016 Workplace Trends Report examines nine key trends affecting business outcomes and the quality of life of employees and consumers. These trends include workforce health management, employee engagement through recognition, humanizing the workplace, smart energy management in the workplace, big data as a lever of employee productivity and quality of life.

Every two years, Sodexo undertakes a ‘University Lifestyle Survey’ in the UK. In 2016, we have asked students from 148 universities to reflect directly on their quality of life and some of the key factors that influence this (accommodation, social life, health and wellbeing…).

There is probably no work environment as complex as an offshore platform. These unconventional places call for people who are capable of facing the unknown with professionalism, enthusiasm and resilience. Who are they? What do they expect in terms of quality of life?